NSS to hold parallel gram sabhas at Niyamgiri

Niyamgiri Suraksha Samiti (NSS), a committee formed to safeguard interests of tribals living on Niyamgiri hill slopes, has asserted that the worship rights of the tribals will affected if mining is allowed at this hill range, considered sacred by the indigenous Dongaria Kondhs.

The proposed bauxite mining site may be 10 km from the abode of the Niyam Raja but it is going to affect the right of worship of the tribals. The tribals dont worship any image, they worship the hill as a whole. We are drawing water from this hill. Besides sustaining humans living in the area, the hill also supports many species of birds and animals, said Kumuti Majhi, convener of NSS.

In its April 18 order on the Niyamgiri bauxite mining project (BMP), the Supreme Court (SC) held that if the mining activity, in any way, affects the religious rights of Dongaria Kondha, Kutia Kondha and others, especially their right to worship their deity, known as Niyam Raja, that right has to be preserved and protected.

NSS flayed the Odisha government for its decision to limit gram sabhas to only 12 villages and reiterated its demand to conduct the village meetings in all 112 affected villages.

The state government is deliberately conducting the gram sabhas in only 12 villages to suit the interests of Vedanta. The right to hold palli sabhas rests with the sarpanchs and not with the central or the state government, said Bhala Chandra Sarangi, an activist supporting the NSS.

As a mark of protest, NSS has decided to hold parallel gram sabhas in all the 112 villages on Niyamgiri hil slopes. Sarangi claimed the respective sarpanchs and ward members have unanimously agreed to hold these gram sabhas between July 20 and end of August. We will inform the government in advance on holding the palli sabhas. The decisions taken there will be communicated to the Union ministry of environment & forests (MoEF), he said.